Duke Rolls to 16-0 Victory on Opening Night

Friday, February 17

Durham, N.C.

4 PM

Duke University

1-0

Saint Joseph's

0-1

Saint Joseph's

Duke

Duke Rolls to 16-0 Victory on Opening Night

2/17/2023 8:16:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Coach Pollard Postgame Interview Photo Gallery

DURHAM – Duke Baseball strung together 14 hits and scored in five of the eight innings they came to the plate on Friday, in route to a 16-0 Opening Day victory over Saint Joseph's. Sophomore Jonathan Santucci earned his first win of the season, allowing two hits in his four innings of work. He punched out nine Hawks, one shy of his career tally. The victory on opening day marks the 2,200th program win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Junior Alex Stone opened the scoring for the Blue Devils, crushing a three-run home run to right field in the first inning.
Senior Damon Lux doubled to left center field, scoring Stone from third to extend the Duke lead to 4-0 in the fourth.
Freshman Owen Proksch relieved Santucci in the fifth, eliminating the Hawks threat with an inning ending double play.
Junior Jay Beshears added to the Blue Devils lead in the fifth, singling to right to score Alex Storm from third. Duke added to the lead later in the inning, scoring on a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly from Andrew Yu and a single by Josh Solomon, as the Blue Devils sent nine batters to the plate.
In the sixth inning, MJ Metz hit his first home run in a Duke uniform, a solo shot to right field to push the lead to 10-0.
Sophomore Devin Obee entered as a pinch hitter in the bottom half of the eighth, tripling to right center to score Roman DiGiacomo and Beshears.

NOTES

The win on Friday collects the 2,200th program victory for the Blue Devils.
Sophomore southpaw Jonathan Santucci earned his first win on the mound this season, working 4.0 innings of two-hit baseball, collecting nine strikeouts along the way. The nine punchouts is one shy of Santucci's career high on the mound.
Junior Alex Stone and graduate transfer MJ Metz both left the yard on Friday evening. Stone collected his 11th career home runs, as Metz added his 19th.
Nine Blue Devils made their debuts on Friday evening against Saint Joseph's, including four freshman and five transfers.
Freshman Owen Proksch worked a solid 2.0 innings for the Blue Devils in relief, punching out four and allowing one hit.
Freshman Gabriel Nard closed out the night on the mound, working 2.0 innings and allowing just one hit, while tallying three punchouts along the way.

QUOTES

"His [Santucci] stuff seemed to be really electric. He was able to pitch at the top of his zone with his fastball and later in the outing was able to establish the slider. We wanted to get him out of there around 70 pitches or four innings and I think that was mission accomplished." – head coach Chris Pollard on Jonathan Santucci's Opening Day win.
"I was really proud of Owen Proksch tonight. He came in during a close ballgame in the fifth. He had some 50-50 balls go against him and all of a sudden it looks like they have some momentum. I thought he was really tough in that moment for his first career outing." – On the ability of Proksch stepping into his first collegiate action.
"We were able to take advantage of some free offense tonight because we were really good with two strikes. I thought out two strike approach was really good in this game. MJ Metz at the bottom of the lineup was really good." – On the 16 runs scored on Friday for the Blue Devils.